Making Formica Edgebanding

[erniek]

I have to make some strips of formica to use as edgebanding. I thought I could use the bot to cut the strips from a sheet. I'm thinking of using an 1/8" bit. What speed and RPM I'm not sure of. Has anyone tried this? Is this the way to go or should just use the table saw?

[thewoodcrafter]

I use a table saw for this.

Not really what a ShopBot is good for.

[Gary Campbell]

Ernie...
Roger is right about the table saw. If you have to do it more than a couple times... get a slitter. They are worth their weight in gold.
Gary

[benchmench]

You will want to use an aux. fence on the table saw to hold down the laminate. See http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-plans/tablesaw/laminate-cutting-auxiliary-fence/

[bcammack]

There's a slitting tool that sells for, oh, around $100, I believe (bought mine about 12 years ago, so I don't know about today's prices).

Actually, if anybody wants it, I'll dig it out of storage and box it up for half of whatever they sell for new today.

Quite similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Virutex-C015L-Portable-Handheld-Laminate/dp/B000071NUW (same brand, just 12 years old with little use)

[wberminio]

Diddo on the Virutex splitter.

Works great for laminate or even paper backed veneer

Erminio

[beacon14]

If I'm cutting laminate on the bot I'll cut some rectangles out of the waste area and then run those over the table saw to make the edge strips.

[erniek]

Thanks for the advise, guess it saved wearing out my 1/8" bit. The slitter looks like the way to go.

[erniek]

After checking into a slitter, I couldn't get one in time so I tried cutting on the table saw
wasn't happy with the result so I gave the shop-bot a try at it. Worked like a charm, perfectly consistant width. Easy to apply with the edgebander. Cut with an 1/8" bit at 4 inches per second at 18000 rpm. I did leave off the dust collection as the thin strips would lift after cutting.

I did program the cutting file with Excel. Anyone else use excel to get the numbers right?

[nat_wheatley]

Ernest,

What did you use for hold down?

[erniek]

I have a 6.5 hp vacuum pump with an MDF spoil board. The hold down was rather weak on the formica but it was enough to cut strips till what was left was around 10 inches wide. Not sure why it was so weak, I cleaned the filter afterwards, saw some dirt but not huge amounts.

[bill_moore]

The back side of laminate is fairly rough. You might try putting the color side down if you haven't already.
Bill

[coach]

If you are going to use a lot of strips I suggest the virutex slitter. I tried knock offs and they were returned immediately.
If you cut them on the bot you will start wasting lots of material due to the kerf. for one time though not a big deal.

[bcammack]

Seriously. I'll go dig it out of storage and ship it off to somebody if they want it. $60. I doubt if I slit more than 50' linear feet of laminate when I used it some 10+ years ago. I'll find the storage box it's in this weekend.

I tried to knock the nose off my commuter car this morning on the way to work. Believe me, I could use the $$ right now. It'd at least cover what it cost for the rollback that dragged it's injured carcass back home.

[erniek]

Brett,

Send me a picture of it when you find it. I might be interested depending on shipping costs.

[erniek]

Good idea Bill, next time I will flip it over.

David, I used a 1/8" bit so the waste wasn't any more than using a table saw, and because of the accuracy I was able to cut a narrower strip.
I was able to cut .83" strips and edgeband them onto 3/4" melamine.